Cotton-picker.



F. E. JOHNSON.

sorrow PICKER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. 19I8.

1 ,300,276, Patented AprJ15, 1919.

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F. E- JOHNSON.

conom PICKER. APPL'CATION FILED FEB. 9. 1918. 1,300,276. Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

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Application meare ruar 9, 191 8, s al No. 215,218.

To all whom itmayoohcern: L

Be it known that I, iFR-ANK J OHNSON,

a citizen of the United "States of'America,

residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas,

State: ofTexas, have invented certain *Improvements in Cotton-Pickers, of which the following is a description, referencesleeing had to the accompanying .drawings,}form-,-

ingia partfthereof.) r M a and'therefor e with theminimum contamination of the cotton by waste or foreign a matter such asiportion's of thep-lants. 4

in its preferred embodiment, 'aj'pliiralityifof independently progressive, "endlessfpickerelements, so "arranged, supportedand'foperated as to permitthelsame to, yieldyand' swing longitudinally*bfthemachine, sothat plant, it, is adapted to yield more or less as may be necessary-,' du'e to obstacleslprovided y l by the plant, to lthereby avo'idthe disadvantages which are incident to machinesiing which the pieker-elemen'tshave rigid or transversely fixed paths and rheneeaare @relawhile each element is held in positiontoact upon the cotton bearing portions; of the tively inoperativeor impractical :when used in connection with a crop in awhich the plants or stands v'ary considerablyin height spread.

J Itisalso anfobject of the invention to provide apickerjin which the yielding;ele- :ments which actually engage lLlIB'COtliOII tO remove it fno'm-the bolls are capable,;with-' out manipulation by the 0perator,- ofdisposingthemselves, separately'and independently contact with a plant; regardless? of or vin the extent' to; which the branches peculiarities of. the latter.

Further objects and advantages of the i nf; vention will appearin' the course oi'the following description, considered in reference to the accompanying drawings,'it being funderstood, however, gthat :numerous changes; a in -form proportions andidetails of construc- H; tion and? arrangement, maybe resorted to, withinrthe scope of. the appended. claims,

' without departing from the spirit ofthe in? l 7 f 1 essentially, ofone or more flexible. end-less ovention'. r,

Inthe drawings:

Specification of Iietters Patent.

Figl 2 a side elevation of'the same; F1g; "31s a rear view.

Fig. 6; is

:for. the brac'ketssor standards. which support the brush employedto strip the cotton from shown). 1

Man m 15, 1919.

r k F ig-Hland Eigrfil are respectively side and, xedgev-iews oflone ofythe floating division fiiplates- :1 v. n a :1 a i 1 p a detail sectional view showing V l or oneiorml ofadjus'ting and 'locking means The object of the invention is. to provide a cotton picking or harvesting mechanism having means .for effecting the f removal; of. the cotton from-the bolls so as to insure a maximum yield,"without injury to. the plants 'llhe es'sentiafl-featurelof theiniechanism: re- 1 transverse "and": longitudinal flexibility to with the" cottongbolls without breaking the limbs ofj the ;pla'ntorin'volving injury to 3 the apparatus, and, consistsofaplura'lity of pijcker; members 10, disposed ,in a -series ztranjsversely of -the-"machine,-said;members preferably being of graduated lengths as shown clearlyr in Fig. 3,, those at each end ofthe fs'eries beingfi of the greatest length A with vthe intermediate members progressi'v'elyshortr toward. the center or intermediate'point of theseries; Also each picker A sides in'thepiclmnproper, which is of hothh To this endthe invention :c'ontemplates, 5

'member isof endless construction, and be 'f tween its points of support i onthe movable i truck or carriage 11 "ofthe machine: (which is portable and maylbeof the wheeledror any other preferred type) is disposed to form -a pendjent or 1 pendulous loop or bight',

termediate portion of;-the member prefera asishowniclearly inFig. 2,-this b ight or in- 'ably-zbeing, weighted; as shown at 1 2' Ito insure the proper yielding contact I of 'i the member withzthe plants. In, the construction illustrated the supports :for thepicker ggmemben consist of rolls, disksor similar VOluble elementsil3 and 14 the former preferably consistingof a sprocket'fo 1"'engjtudinal, progressive movement; to I the g'agement with and adapted to. impart; lono.-The otheriisupporting smember may, as? 7 shown, consist of anidler.

E-a'chi :pickermember preferably consists, v f i 1104- I -picker-elementsld In thedrawingi each, member consists of two picker-elements Td sposed side by side in parallelism, and between said elements there is arranged a pen dulum plate 17 mounted for swinging movement at' or near'its upper end upon any suit: able transverse support such as the spindle or red 18Qand provided .at the lower end with a bearingfor'the spindle 19 of the weight 12 when the latter; .as shown, is .of the rotary type and is seated in the loop or bi-ghtof the picker. member to :maintainwthe I latter in an efficient rounded form regardless of contact witlnobstacles inthe path thereof.

' "progress of said felements. Also between each two picker members there is located a The rotary weight elements are alsoprefcrably provided with sockets to receive the projections *on the inner surfaces of the picker-elements, so as to turn duringthe spacing plate 20 extending approximately parallelat its upper edge withthesubstaa tially horizontal upper flights :of the picker xmembers, while, "disposed for :movement transversely of the machine or truck, is a conveyer 21 upon which thecotton lint deposited by a rotary brush 22 which serves to etach the cotton :from "the endless picker members, the elements of which should "have 'a suitably roughened surface as by providing the same with short spurs or projections .as'indicated in the drawing at 23; "The brush is preferably provided with a spindle or shaft 24 mounted in bearings formed in brackets 25 which, in order to provide for adjustment of the brush relative to the picker members and conveyer are provided with racks 26- engagedby pinions 27. Any

suitable locking means may be provided to hold the parts at the desired adjustment such as a disk'28' carried fbYtllB spindle of the pinion and *havin g openings '29 for alinement with a similar opening 30 in any-suitable-fixed part of the frame suchas bracket '31, whereby a pin '32 may be inserted into the registering openings infthe disk and said bracket.

The mechanism is preferably driven "from a rotary supportingelement of the machine ysuch'as the wheel '33 having, for example, a

sprocket wheel 3e traversed by a chain 35 which alsoengages a sprocket wheel 36 on the shaft "37 of therotary carrying elements of the picker members, while the brush may receive motion from the same shaft through a belt $8 or the"equivalent thereof. The conveyer-may also, asshown, be driven from the shaft-37'1tlirough-intermeshing beveled gears 39 and it) and the spindle'll' of acarrier roll 4:2-supporting one end of the eonveyer belt 21, the corresponding roller of said conveyor belt as shown at 48, being an idler. a 7

While in the foregoing descriptionreference'has'beenniadeto the one picker or set of picker members and related parts, including the conveyor brush and means for anon element :il

operatin the same, it will be understood that ,sai parts may be duplicated or multiplied in number to the desired extent as may lee found desirable in practice, two complete sets being illustrated in the drawings, as will be apparent by reference particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, and, as the two sets are mcounterpaftsiofeach other, for convenience described gearing from the shaft 87 of one of the sets of picker members.

=Particular attention .iscalled to the fact that the construction of the picker proper, made upasdescribed of a plurality of independently movable pendulous members, each compr sing oneior more longitudinally progressive endless picker elements, provides for a transverse flex bility of the picker as a whole and insures an effective hugging of the plants, without objectionable force of contact therewith, the memb crsi of I the picker I raving substantially floating action with reference to the plants, and each member performingits picking act-ion due-to the lonigitudinal progressive ,movement of the elements'thereof, regardless of the position of the member controlled iby the peculiarities of the plant. Theresults secured by such a construction of picker have been found in practice to involve a substantially complete removalof-thecotton from the plant under conditions leading to high market grade of the roduct.

1 aving described the invention, what is claimed is:

-l. cotton picker including a pendulum suspended from its upper end, a traveling picker ieleinent arranged over and carried by the pendulum, and imeans for propelling the picker element.

cotton picker including a wheeled frame carrying belt supporting means, a. pendulum suspended from its upper end within the frame and carrying at its lower swinging end a belt 'holding'and guiding device, an endless picker'belt' arranged over the --beltsupporting-means on the frame and the belt holding and guiding device on the pendulum, andmeans for propelling said belt;

3. A cotton picker including a plurality of'separate endless picker elements having cotton picking means thereon, means for mounting said picker elements to form a pendent non-collapsible loop, and means for causing the loop to swing "longitudinally of the machine. I

4. A cotton picker including a plurality of separate endless traveling picker elements havingcotton picking means thereon, means for supporting said elements to forma pendent loop, and a weight arranged'in' the lower end of the loop element under tension. g

'5. A cotton picker including a plurality of to place the picker separate endless traveling picker elements having cotton picking means thereon,means for supporting said endless picker elements, a weight arranged in the lower end of the loop formed by the picker element. and a pendent plate havingits lower end engaging the weight to maintain the same in operative relation with the picker element asthelatter swings longitudinallyof the machine.

7 A cotton picker including a. frame,"a plurality of separate endless traveling picker belts having cotton picking means'thereon,

means mounted in said frame for. supporting said belts whereby the same form pendent loops, a weight in the lower end'of said loops and engaged with the belt'to rotate therewith, and a plate for each loop having its lower end engaging said'weighti and its upper end mounted on" an axis disposed" transversely of the pickerfra-mak 8. A cotton picking machine including awheeled frame carrying a plurality ofpicker 5 units, each unit consisting of a plurality of separate endless pickerfbelts havingcotton picking means thereon, and means for placing each belt under tension; f

9. A cotton picking machine including a frame, a plurality ofpickingunitsicarried by said frame, and each unitincluding. a

transversely arrangedseries of endless belts having cotton picking means thereon, and

means swingingly suspended from said, frame and having its lower end engaging the lower portions of the loops jformedbyj Copies of this patentmayteiobtained for live cents each, Ity addressing the -(himmissioner of Patents. 1

ated length. o v

11.' Acotton picking machine including a "plurality of separate endless picker elements thereon and mounted to form pendent loops progressively decreasing in length toward h the longitudinal center'ofthemachine. i

112. A cotton picking machine including1 a g WashingtomDZG. Iv

said belts whereby the latter are maintained mounted to form wheeled frame having a plurality of in pendently operating picking units thereon, "leach/unit consisting of a plurality Ofsparate juxtaposed endless picker belts having Y cotton picking means thereon and mounted to form pendent loops, vwhich progressively decrease in length toward the longitudinal center of, the frame, and means for placing each of said belts "undertensioniand causing the same to yield in a perpendicular "plane inv-perpendicularfl position and are adapted to have an oscillating movement parallel to the longitudinal axis of the machine. V 10; Aicottonpicking machine including a I pluralityof separate endless picker elements f [having cotton picking means thereon and pendent loops ofgraduparallel to the 'lo-ng itudinal axis of the frame.- a

" -13; A cottonpicking machineincluding a wheeled frame, a plurality of cotton picking units, carried by said frame, each unit ineluding a plurality of separate ,independentlyfoperating tensioned loopedbelts having cotton picking means thereon,"and a- Y conveyer arranged transversely of the frame adjacent the upper end of the said belts, and

means for removing the cotton from the cot- ;ton pickin'gmeans ofsaid belts and. depositing the same on said transverse conveyer belts. i

This specification signed and witnessed this ninth day of'November, 1917.

FRANK EDWARD JOHNSON. Witnesses-z '7 o BARTLETT, G. M.KNA'PP. 

